Dimon Defends Restructuring and Management Changes

Jamie Dimon today defended, adamantly, his reshuffling of the nation’s biggest bank following a trading crisis that cost it north of $6 billion last year.

Bloomberg

J.P. Morgan’s CEO, whose own paycheck was cut in half for the year because of the trading loss, admitted there was too much turnover among the top ranks, but said that happens in restructuring. Eight members of Dimon’s operating committee, his closest circle of advisers, have left the group in the past year or so including several who were criticized over their roles in the trading disaster.

“Obviously when you have a problem like the whale, you have mistakes which you should acknowledge and then fix,” Dimon said. “Some of those mistakes obviously scared us and we went and checked everywhere in the company.”

Among those changes was a reorganization that grouped together several of the bank’s units, particularly reshaping its investment banking operations. Dimon argued the organizational change was separate from the London Whale and meant to reshape the company so units serve similar customers.

“All we’re doing here is better coordination, which we think will have more cross sell and, believe it or not, lower expenses,” Dimon said. “Plus, it’ll help us deal with the new regulatory environment.”